


One clap, two clap, ankle clap

by Kealpos



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Focus on the bootleg friendship handshake shit! i love that shit!, M/M, Other, also jeremy is trans but it doesnt matter too much? it just gets brought up a lil bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 06:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12475952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kealpos/pseuds/Kealpos
Summary: You know those handshakes that Michael and Jeremy do in the bootleg? Yeah I wrote about it.





	One clap, two clap, ankle clap

7th grade

-

“We gotta have a handshake!” Michael said, slamming open the door for him and Jeremy after arriving home from school.

 

“A.. handshake?” Jeremy asked tentatively, Michael nodding enthusiastically as he tossed his backpack on the floor.

“Yeah! You see Adrien and Brenda in lunch today after Brenda’s Tuesday singing thing? They had a handshake! Because they’re best friends! We  _ gotta _ have a handshake, man,” Michael informed with a grin on his face, picking up one of Jeremy’s stim toys he kept at Michael’s house and passing it over.

 

“Uh, okay. Maybe like a.. A fist bump and the, like, “Lemonade, crunchy ice” thing actions?” Jeremy shrugged, finally giving in.

“”Lemonade, crunchy ice thing”?”

“Like, you know.. Lem-o-nade,” Clap clap clap. “Crunchy ice.” Clap clap clap. “Sti- actually, nevermind, this is stupid.” Jeremy concluded, dropping his hands before he could clap again, Michael giving him a sympathetic smile.

 

“Not a bad idea, it’s a wittle simple,” Michael said, plopping onto his bed, Jeremy shrugging and mirroring his seating position.

“What about… something that starts with a hi-five and ends with something totally unexpected. Like an…”

“Ass slap?” Jeremy replied before smacking a hand over his mouthing a shaking his head as he attempted to keep his laughing in check. “Fuck, prete- pretend that never ever came out of my mouth! My brain to mouth filter hates me-e-e.”

 

Michael snorted and turned away, shoving his face into the bed sheets best he could in his twisted position before righting himself again with a more serious expression on his face.

 

“How about something with like, a four count beat?”

“Like, clap clap clap clap?”

“That basic noise, exactly. Thank you, Jere, for that stunning example. True talent here, people.”

“Pft. You’re so welcome, Mikey. You too, totally real adoring crowd.”

 

Michael sighed and laid down, head resting in Jeremy’s lap, eyes closed for a couple of silent seconds, Jeremy looking down at him quizzically, before popping one eye opening and grinning. Some silent and incomprehensible question became apparent in said eye opening, resulting in Jeremy laughing and rolling his eyes before pushing Michael off of him so he could stand to collect snacks while Michael gathered gaming equipment.

 

-

8th grade

-

“That’s what we need to do,” Jeremy suddenly mumbled.

 

Earlier in the day, Jeremy’s mom had invited some relatives from her side of the family who hadn’t been over since Jeremy’s bat mitzvah (besides his cousins, one who went to his school, and both were friends with him on World Of Warcraft). She had forced him into a  _ dress _ . Nevermind he was already out to the two cousins and that he looked as much as a boy as he could manage at the moment. Jeremy didn’t like her sometimes.

 

The day had been exhausting, the relatives arriving a little before lunch and then sitting through a meal of sandwiches and potato salad his aunt had brought and passive aggressives between said aunt, his mother, and his cousins about his name and pronouns.

 

He got interrogated about school and hobbies and Michael and “Is anything going on between you two?” and blah blah blah.

His father was the one to not only notice Jeremy’s declining energy, but to act upon rectifying it, inviting Jeremy to bring Michael over so they could play video games with the cousins, and offered to bring Jeremy’s mom and aunt to a nearby yard sale going on. The ladies had agreed, and the cousins were pumped that Michael could probably come. They both liked him. 

 

Jeremy had them hit Michael up as he changed out of the dress he would never wear again, and within 15 minutes, the game console for a racing game was set up and the four boys were fucking it up.

 

They kept at that until the cousins had to leave with the aunt who had a second-hand dead 80’s Furby, leaving Michael and Jeremy to themselves. So, Jeremy finally fully crashed and pulled up a movie.

 

“We need to do what?” Michael asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen and to Jeremy’s head.

 

Jeremy sighed and moved in closer to Michael before speaking again. “You know last year when you got really hyped about that handshake Adrien did with his friend?”

Michael groaned at the mention of Adrien (they had kissed a couple of times in closet during one of the few parties Michael and Jeremy had gotten invited to over the summer thanks to both being chosen for 7 Minutes In Heaven; and even though Adrien had seemed interested in him while in there, he immediately bad-mouthed Michael once out. Though, Jeremy could swear he saw Adrien stare at Michael with sad, gay eyes sometimes), but nodded.

 

“Yeah, just. There was a friend handshake in there. In the movie. And I thought about it and figured we should try that again.”

“Good idea. Should we plagiarize their idea?”

“Totally. I just wanna have something, not make it.”

“And this is why we’re best friends.”

 

-

9th

-

Michael got his first patch on!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

Jeremy got a B+ on his super hard math test!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

Michael and Adrien made up!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

Just met up in lunch!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

For video games!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

A sleepover!  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

-

10th

-

_ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

Michael danced a little bit more to whatever song was playing before sliding the headphones down onto his neck and giving Jeremy a lazy smile. 

“How you doing, my friend?”

 

“Class fucking suuucked,” Jeremy whined, stealing Michael slushie for a minute.

“They do that,” Michael replied with a raised eyebrow and barking laugh.

 

Jeremy rolled his eyes and smiled, just a little, before lapsing back into his tragic mood.

“No, you don’t understand! Since Christine is my English class, I always freak out and I  _ already _ freak out but getting Christine in the mix makes it worse, and today the teacher announced we have a big project that’s due in two weeks, and is worth like, almost a third of this term’s grade! And it’s one with partners! AND! Because the universe hates me! Guess who my partner was?”

“Lemme guess. Rhymes with, Wistine Wanigula?”

“Yes!”

 

“And so! I got thinking about how I was gonna fuck it up somehow and we’d both fail and she’d blame it on me and we’d get horrible grades, and she’d hate me forever and I’d be so socially dead that not even you or my cousins would want to hang out with me, and then she said hello, interrupting my train of thought, then everything crashed, then  _ I _ crashed. And I had a! Breakdown! And had to go to the nurse. Again. Life is terrible.”

 

Michael had no response to that, simply wolf whistling at his predicament, and Jeremy groaned, laying his head on the table.

 

-

11th

-

“Jeremy, my buddy! How’s it hanging? Lunch is bangin! Got my sushi, got my slushy and more!”  _ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

 

Jeremy signed up for the school play.

 

-

 

“Two player game!”

“Hey!   
_ One clap. _

“Hey!”

_ Two clap. _

“Hey!”

_ Ankle clap. _

 

Jeremy got a Squip.

 

-

 

“Yo! Jeremy!” Michael called out. “I missed you at the mall the other day, you somehow leave without me?”

Jeremy didn’t respond, but Michael shrugged it off, thinking he’d give his answer while actually sitting. Michael held his hand up for the handshake, but Jeremy passed right by him without a second glance. Michael watched after him, slowly lowering his hand, until Jeremy went and sat at the “popular kids” table. Michael sat down, handshake lost.

 

-

 

Jeremy distanced himself from a lot of things apparently, evidence of his cousin, Noah, approaching Michael during lunch one day. Michael knew why he was being avoided now, at least.

 

Noah came up and gave him a hi-five, sitting across from the hooded boy with a concerned look on his face.

“Yo, ‘ael. Jerem hasn’t been on WoW in like, a few weeks, and he totally left me and Seth hanging for this one thing we were gonna team up for. He hasn’t responded to any messages, and like. He’s nuzzling on Brooke? Not sitting with you?” Noah asked, looking up at the ceiling to laugh out a “What the fuck’s going on?”

 

Michael pursed his lips, drinking some of his slushy before deciding on a reply.

“Something we’re going through. Now, this doesn’t have anything to do with Jeremy, but, do you know what a ‘Squip’ is?”

 

Noah brought his head back down and looked slowly around their environment before asking for a piece of paper and a pencil, and scribbling something on it before passing it back to Michael.

“That’s a buddy of mine’s Warcraft handle. He’s got info.”

And then, Noah stood up and walked away.

 

Why was all the information rooted in World Of Warcraft?

 

-

 

Jeremy stood angrily in silence with the Mt. Dew Red bottle before roaring, “Why not!?” 

 

Michael was held back, a hand over his mouth that would not go away, even when licked, and he was starting to be tugged over to the side of the stage, but he could see Christine bound out from the stage, right to Jeremy. He was gay, and even he had to admit she looked.. Captivating. Ethereal. Gorgeous in a way that made him want to cry. He would do anything to be with her. Anything. 

And then the rest of the Sqipped “pansy serum” got forced down his throat. Almost, and least. Those holding him dropped him and the beaker for some reason, and he immediately spat the serum out as they screamed. And then everyone collapsed and  _ he _ screamed.

 

-

12th

-

_ One clap, two clap, ankle clap. _

“Ooh, damn! Michael, Jeremy! You gotta teach us how to do that!” One Rich Goranski yelled in response to the boy’s greeting, the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

 

Jeremy smirked and wrapped an arm around Michael’s shoulders.

“No.”

And Michael barked out a laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr is @transbrookelohst


End file.
